- Ghana Launches Pharmaceutical Policy to Cut US$750 Million Annual Drug Import Bill
The government has launched the Ghana Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Policy as part of a broader effort to reduce the country’s dependence on imported medicines, strengthen health security and establish Ghana as a pharmaceutical manufacturing hub for West Africa.
The initiative comes as the country’s annual pharmaceutical import bill has climbed above US$750 million, from approximately US$250 million a decade ago, despite local manufacturers continuing to supply only about 30.00% of medicines consumed domestically.
The policy seeks to double the share of locally manufactured medicines in the Ghanaian market from approximately 30.00% to 60.00% within five years. It also aims to double pharmaceutical exports to markets within the Economic Community of West African States and move Ghana towards at least 70.00% pharmaceutical self-sufficiency.
Launching the policy in Accra, Minister of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare said the government intended to translate its commitment to pharmaceutical industrialisation into factories, exports, employment and improved access to affordable medicines.
“With this clear direction from the head of state, my ministry’s responsibility is to translate that commitment into factories, products, exports and jobs,” she said.
“The policy provides the framework for accelerating investments, promoting local manufacturing and improving the competitiveness of our industry.”
The minister said the government’s vision was to build a country capable of producing safe, high-quality and affordable medicines for its population while supplying a growing regional market.
“Our vision is simple: a Ghana that produces safe, quality and affordable medicines for its people and serves as the pharmaceutical manufacturing hub of West Africa,” she stated.
The policy, approved by Cabinet in July 2026, is designed to tackle persistent constraints that have prevented Ghana’s pharmaceutical industry from expanding significantly.
These include the high cost of imported active pharmaceutical ingredients and other raw materials, expensive long-term financing, inadequate infrastructure, limited manufacturing capacity, technology gaps, shortages of specialised skills and unpredictable access to public procurement markets.
Its six main pillars cover quality assurance and international standards, market access through public procurement, investment and financing, production of pharmaceutical inputs, skills development and research, and access to regional export markets.
The government plans to work with institutions including Development Bank Ghana, Ghana EXIM Bank and the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre to improve access to affordable long-term capital, finance factory modernisation and attract strategic investors and joint ventures.
The financing component will be crucial. Pharmaceutical production requires substantial initial investment in specialised plants, laboratories, quality-control systems and internationally recognised certification. Local manufacturers operating with expensive commercial credit cannot compete easily against imports produced at scale in countries with stronger industrial support.
Speaking for the Ghana Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association, its Executive Secretary, Dr Lucia Addae, said the country’s dependence on imported medicines had remained largely unchanged even as the value of those imports increased sharply.
“We always hear that we import 70.00% and manufacture 30.00%, and people have stated that that figure has not changed over the years,” she said.
“Ten years ago, that figure was about US$250 million. Today, that figure sits a little over US$750 million.”
The figures show that import dependence has become both a health security problem and a foreign-exchange concern. Ghana is effectively exporting employment, industrial capability and scarce foreign currency by purchasing medicines that could potentially be produced domestically.
However, reducing the import bill will require more than replacing finished foreign products with locally packaged medicines made almost entirely from imported ingredients.
Ghana currently depends almost completely on imported active pharmaceutical ingredients, meaning local production can still create significant demand for foreign currency. The deeper industrial objective must therefore include domestic production of selected ingredients, excipients, packaging materials and other inputs.
Presidential Coordinator for the Ghana Pharmaceutical Hub, Dr Bernice Makafui Brempong, said the policy recognised that direct financial assistance alone could not build a sustainable industry.
“Manufacturers need reliable infrastructure, skilled professionals, access to markets, strong regulatory systems and a predictable business environment,” she said.
She explained that the proposed pharmaceutical hub would bring together manufacturers, raw-material suppliers, research institutions, testing facilities and shared industrial infrastructure.
Phase Two of the hub, planned for the Central Region, will focus on active pharmaceutical ingredients, herbal and plant-based medicines, packaging materials and facilities for bioavailability and bioequivalence studies.
It will also target the production of pharmaceutical-grade corn starch, corn syrup and ethyl alcohol, creating a link between agriculture and pharmaceutical manufacturing. Shared facilities are expected to support contract manufacturing by companies unable to finance independent plants.
The initiative could also create employment opportunities for Ghana’s approximately 1,600 unemployed pharmacists by expanding industrial pharmacy, research, quality assurance and regulatory careers.
Ghana already has a base on which to build. The pharmaceutical sector had approximately 40 registered manufacturers in 2020, directly employing more than 10,000 people and indirectly supporting about 100,000 livelihoods. It is regarded as West Africa’s second-largest pharmaceutical industry after Nigeria.
Yet becoming a regional hub will depend on whether Ghanaian medicines can meet international quality standards and remain competitive on price. Government procurement must support credible local producers without weakening safety requirements or creating a protected market for inefficient manufacturers.
Regulators will also need adequate laboratories, technical personnel and operational independence to ensure that faster industrial expansion does not compromise medicine quality.
German Ambassador to Ghana Frederik Landshöft said the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the danger of concentrating essential medicine and vaccine production in a small number of countries.
“That is why Germany strongly welcomes Ghana’s ambition to become a regional pharmaceutical manufacturing hub,” he said.
The policy therefore represents a significant industrial and health-sector commitment. Its success, however, will not be measured by the launch itself.
It will be measured by factories completed, affordable capital deployed, international certifications secured, medicines produced, pharmacists employed, exports generated and the amount by which Ghana’s US$750 million annual import bill is ultimately reduced.
